>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> >> this week on "inside washington," the u.n. gives the green light to attacks on libya. >> the killing must stop and the people of libya must be protected. >> we stand by our great friend and ally japan in its time of need. >> the nuclear crisis in japan -- could it happen here? >> schering the life out of

everybody. >> time to start thinking about the 2012 republican presidential nominee. what about the donald? >> have never been so serious as i am now. >> and march madness -- do you have your brackets? captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- it was a 10-nothing vote, and five abstentions. the u.n. authorized the use of all necessary measures to protect citizens in libya. here is susan rice, our u.n. ambassador. >> the security council has authorized the use of force, including enforcement of a no- fly zone, to protect civilians and civilian areas targeted by colonel gaddafi, his

intelligence and security forces, and his mercenaries. >> after the u.n. vote, the foreign minister said that the country was declaring an immediate ceasefire and halting military operations. after that, oil prices dropped. meanwhile, the no-fly zone. what about gaddafi's text and artillery? is this too little too late? give it our involvement in iraq and afghanistan, the stepping into this at all, charles? >> it is late, and you have to be serious and hard and early. happening now, what we have produced is a stalemate. for the future we're going to have to protect the rebels. it is going to be an ongoing and long operation, unfortunately. >> mark? >> "the consequences of war or tire and the sacrifices are immeasurable."

those are the words of senator barack obama in 2002. i hope if we go in that there will be a congressional debate, congressional approval. >> nina? >> i think it's incredibly unclear whether gaddafi will abide by the cease-fire or whether the rebels will bring out this is a gently -- this is a genuinely international agreement to do something, and i'm perfectly willing with the french and british and the arab league's -- we are committed on other fronts, and i don't mind if the united states participating in a genuinely international effort, but i don't want to be involved in a third front as an american. >> colby? >> i think you did it the right

way. he needed to get the endorsement of the arab league, and whether it is led by our allies are we participate, a new international front. what happens? gaddafi in effect faulted, once he realized there was the possibility of international action. >> haven't we been hearing warnings from the generals an about the risks of a no-fly zone over libya? >> exactly. exactly why i am very grateful that we're not the leading force in this. we did not get off half cocked leading on our own. >> what about charles' point? >> i think protecting civilians gives the united nations forces in a lot of wiggle room.

you can respond to any action that gaddafi's people might take against the rebels. >> what is the commitment? how long? what will it cost us? anybody going to ask those questions? >> that is why we needed to date, april public debate in the congress for this -- a full public debate in the congress for this. the bridge of the british are already there on this, but the idea of assembling -- the french and british are already there on this, but the idea of the stumbling into another committtment -- >> there is another way to exploit the support that we have. the europeans and the french and british have relatively serious air force's. you can use italian air bases. this is not afghanistan, a lot of hiding places and caves.

great battles in history have been bought on libya in that standard that is why gaddafi stop, -- great battles in history had fought on the libyan sand. that is what it would not be stopped -- why gaddafi is stopped. if the arab league is behind this, get arab soldiers training. >> the arab league is behind us -- >> it is going to be a crowd ever and will involve not action, but tradi >> but you have taken away from gaddafi the argument that this is that some sort of western intervention in this country. you have the arab league on record there. >> i know this is messy, and it

may not end in the way we all want it to, but it is preferable to us going in and big fight -- bigfooting once again. >> is about protecting civilians or protecting oil? >> it is probably about both. and the prospects of what gen went massacre did or repeople -- a genuine massacre did worry people. but don't pretend this is not about oil. >> but what is going on in bahrain with the saudis -- an explicit struggle between the sunnis and shiites in this area. and iraq weighing in on behalf of the shiites. >> bahrain really is a sticking point.

we have tolerated, even though we said to the saudis, "do not send troops there," troops have gone in. with all due respect to cut har -- to qatar and the united arab emirates, those are not the great military forces in history. >> bahrain is a bank with a harbor, and iran has claimed it away iraq -- the way iraq claimed kuwait. >> the disaster in japan and what it means for nuclear power. >> a similar accident occurred -- could occur here. >> i would not take anything like that at face value. >> that is henry waxman of california, responding to questions of whether nuclear reactors are safe. he is not sure. every time you look at this,

more threat of nuclear contamination. wednesday night, the state department announced it was arranging charter flights to get families of american diplomats out. at week's end, officials were questioning whether the japanese work entirely forthcoming, whether they understood the seriousness of the situation. what is the potential for a similar nuclear disaster in the united states? there is talk of a nuclear research is in this country. is this going to put an end to that? >> japan was hit with a triple whammy, the earthquake, the tsunami, and that the nuclear disaster. they were all related. we have to worry about what happened with plans on deval lines, pa -- plants on the fault lines, particularly around in new york not we have six or

seven states in the country that depend on nuclear power. no, this is not going to stop it. it will cause us to pause and review our own procedures to make sure we have safety standards -- >> but who would be more careful about nuclear power than the japanese? very precise about everything. >> they did the best they could, and that is the point. they had 15 minutes to evacuate, and the fact that so many people that is a testament to all the drilling and care if they took. for all the talk about nuclear power and the obama administration's efforts to meet rigid, there is a list of the little new nuclear -- to encourage it, there is relatively little new nuclear power in the and the state's. it would be irresponsible not to pause and review that we are up

to snuff as much as we can be. >> is it on the ropes now? >> mandatory eight count. perhaps two. the nuclear industry has always been the problem. yucca flats in nevada, are great what will we do about nuclear waste -- of doing what we will do about nuclear waste. we never decided what we would do about nuclear waste in the country. given the gravity of the problem with energy and the middle east and the oil, there was an opening with nuclear energy, and that is closing fast from japan. >> the french figured out what to do with nuclear waste. they export energy now. >> at date processed plutonium, which we would like to do because it increases the supply of the teddy bear to look, i think nuclear is dead because of this -- increase the supply of

plutonium not, look, i think nuclear is dead because of this. four reactors, him and your wisdom, and a disaster of all proportions -- human heroism, and a disaster of huge proportions. it is going to be a problem that will take weeks and wewill leave residue for years. the resurgence of nuclear in the united states is dead. we will keep plants that they have not know germans took a 17 offline. the chinese, who are reckless environmentally, and stalled construction. >> the prospect of bringing nuclear plants were not very good in the beginning. why?

because wall street has to come in and finance those, and there is no interest in and taking that kind of investment. >> the federal government under obama and bush put the loan guarantees to override the market encourages this. i think it is done. >> let's take a nuclear of the board. oil is a problem because of what is going on in the middle east. we're not supposed to burn coal. what are we going to do? >> oil is off the table because of the panic over the gulf oil spill did the obama administration ended deepwater drilling. you have accidents with oil inevitably, you have accidents with nuclear. call is dirty. you will probably have to go

very heavily to natural-gas, but you cannot put a windmill on your car and anybody who imagines that solar and wind are anywhere near for the next 20, 25 years, providing huge amounts of electrical energy that we need does not know anything about the energy industry. that is why we are stuck, and we want to tolerate the carbon emissions, which is the epa wants to suppress, which will shut down our coal plants and leave us shivering in the winter. >> know where is sacrifice mentioned here. >> and no where is the word " independence." what has to worry us here is what the house falls in saudi arabia? if it falls under the influence of iran, we have major, major problems at. big problems.

>> there is no pain-free solution here. as charles has said, there are enormous risks in deep water drilling, and consequences of an accident there are enormous. we talked about nuclear. gas is probably the best solution, and you can have clean coal. but it does require new plants and scrubbers and it does cost more money. other countries conserve more than we do. i am not saying it is the solution, but other countries do a far better job and reduce consumption by 10%, 20% compared to us. >> if gasoline or $6 a gallon, it would be catastrophic but on the other hand -- >> as i listen to my colleagues, we have two options for god we

can shiver -- we have two options. we can shiver and have clean air or we can cough and be warm. the clean green movement never got popular attraction in this country. as colby said, it ought to be about national independence rather than a good feeling of the environment. >> the epa proposed a set of rules that we would clean up abouthe coal industry, something they have never really done, and the industry is going crazy. even when we try to do something domestically, that will advance, i think not only health and

welfare but industry, you get this -- >> you have got to the ideological extreme if the week nuclear died push legislation that kills american coal. i have been for a gas tax since 1983. and that is never going happen. it should at the two years ago, and nobody had the will to do it. >> i am going to try to wind iowa. >> part of the beauty of me is i'm bridge, so i could put up $600 million -- i'm rich, so i could put up $600 million myself. >> donald trump, interviewed by ashleigh banfield. mark, you once said that haley

barbour would be the anti-obama. what would donald trump be? >> the candidate for people who say "we are rich as hell and not going to take it anymore." his private plane, with his private hair -- [laughter] i am dying for him to run. the first corn roast in des moines, i want him to be there. >> what about haley barbour? >> he has got to be in it to have some impact on the nominee. his stance is up becoming -- his chance of becoming president of united states are as good as my

15-pound dog. >> never say never. >> a pretty studied eye -- he sees as his principal challenger mitch daniels of indiana, somebody could he respects and who has walked the walk and talked the talk. >> daniels, santorum, a gingrich, huckabee, palin. >> of the people well known, starting with romney, who, if it were not for romneycare would be the presumptive nominee -- all of them have a lot of baggage. republicans have eight strong, young bench for 2060 -- for 2016. paul ryan, marco rubio, chris christie.

if nobody in the current pact emerges as a viable candidate who can win, they might go to christie or ryan or somebody who otherwise might be too young or premature. >> there is some merit to that, except when we of done that in the past with either party, with the exception of obama, it tended to bite the party in the fanny. it is more likely that this will shake out and we will get to the serious core of people. haley barbour illustrates the pros and cons of the situation. he is actually a serious person who does not look serious. and he has baggage that haunted him -- >> i have known haley barbour for many years and he is smart, but he is also very crafty.

his candidacy seems to be appealing to that part of the republican party that represents a real throwback to the old days. when he takes the position that he will not pass judgment on at the founder of the coakley clan -- the coup? clan -- the kkk, i really despicable individual -- >> he backed off that. >> you cannot back of that in the modern era. >> haley barbour did get a 40% of the african-american the vote on the coast after his performance in katrina, which was superior to that of a pro- government in louisiana. at this -- that of the federal government in louisiana. what is holding that back?

the false assumption that because of barack obama is close to 50% approval and potentially $1 billion campaign treasury, he is unbeatable. at this point in 1991, george herbert walker bush was at 89% approval and every democrat ran for the hills, and bill clinton beeat him months later. a week is a lifetime in politics and three months is an eternity. that is what republicans are getting. >> that is why it may end up as a dark horse. i think it mitch daniels will not run, certainly huckabee won't, palin won't. barbour was also a lobbyist, a

tobacco lobbyist. it is not a good environment to run and if you are a former lobbyist. >> michelle bachmann was up in new hampshire over the weekend. >> don't forget, she told the people of new hampshire that it was great to be in the state that fired the first shot in concord. it was concord, massachusetts. >> thank you for setting the record straight. i thought i was misinformed. march madness. >> i pettitte with caroline and they lost -- i take north carolina and lost, and the next year they won for me. >> that is president obama on espn taken his n.c.a.a. tournament brackets. i don't want it talk about that. i want to talk about are

deducted, secretary of education, and -- and op-ed -- about arne duncan, a secretary of education, and an op-ed he wrote in "the post" on wednesday. >> we love march madness, office pools, a bit about it, but some responsibility schools have to players, enrolled students, to make sure they graduate and put them on the road to graduation. university of kentucky last year, five players first-year gone to the nba, you begin to question that. >> i am willing to hold a schools accountable, and the n.c.a.a. has not covered itself in glory. it gives millions of dollars to these kids, why wouldn't they go to the nba? >> it is not limited basketball. you could take it to football as well. as soon as they use them up,

they let them go. they're not trying to educate them. they're trying to have them win games so the school gets money. >> i'm with colby, it's out and out exploitation. the idea of these athletes it be students is a for -- is a farce. let them be paid. these are the minor leagues of basketball, football. let's be honest about it and let them earn a living, a piece of a huge amount of money they make on television for schools. >> if the n.c.a.a. barred schools with low graduation rates to participate in the n.c.a.a. tournament, he would see graduation rates improve. my own all water is in the far

right, as is its duty and -- a risky, own alma -- my own alma mater is in the at frederick, as is duke university. >> see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv. of the best of europe.

venice seems to be every italy connoisseur's... prague has always been beautiful... germany... the irish civilization... the eiffel tower was built... hope you've enjoyed the magic of... checkpoint charlie, the most famous border crossing between the american and soviet sectors, stood about here. the place is marked by a replica checkpoint, a thought-provoking post with a young american soldier facing east, and, on the flip side, a young russian soldier facing west, and a fascinating museum, the house at checkpoint charlie. during the cold war, this museum stood defiantly,

spitting distance from the border guards, telling the story of the wall and celebrating all the clever escapes over, under, and through it. escapees would hide sandwiched between wind surfboards, buried in shopping carts, and crammed into tiny cars. this car, so small it wasn't generally even checked, was redesigned to stow a person. it drove six people to freedom before finally being discovered. and this vehicle, lined with concrete and iron plates, simply blasted through. there's a room dedicated to showing how tunnels were used, both for spying... and for transporting people to freedom. the last room is the happy ending, the euphoric days in 1989 when "people power" literally tore down the wall.